SAMOA ๐ผ๐ธ
EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article (13 December 2024) is available as
part of the Historical section of our Substack page. Check
that out here:
While many Samoan spots in the South Bay or down by the harbor will have the flags of that island nation flying in the front, Poly Grill & Bakery takes a different approach. Their logo also chooses to include Hawai'i, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, and the Marquesas on it, and every time they advertise or post on social media it is addressed to the entire "Poly Fam."
While there is a pocket of Marshall Islands folks in Arkansas, Southern California has long been home to more Polynesian-born peoples than anywhere else on the mainland. Besides an abundance of Hawaiian restaurants and a smattering of Samoan operations, this has not necessarily translated to food businesses open for the public, but look close on the steam tables here and you might find Fijian taro or mamoe tao, a favorite on Niue as well as Samoa.
Poly Grill & Bakery is tucked into the corner of a small strip mall on Carson Blvd. east of the 405 and the Dominguez Channel before it empties into the harbor, and is a small square room which lets customers focus on their steam table offerings. There has been a business here with the same name for quite some time, but the current owners upgraded the space and reopened in November of 2019.
There are two parts to the small space, a steam table dominates the left half of the room and most everything that is available on any given day will be on display. The case and area behind the register on the right are usually filled with breads, sweet raisin rolls and German buns, wildly popular fried dough balls filled with jams or other sweet goodies. A loaf of the cinnamon bread ($8, above) is great for making French toast or just for a sweet treat.
When approaching the steam table, you do need to consider the weight of everything. The price for most foods is $8.99/pound and can add up pretty quickly because of the natural heaviness of Samoan and Polynesian foods, which focus more on meats, oils, and gravies than leaves. On a couple different visits, there was a noticeable level of surprise sticker shock from some customers that had went for it with big orders.
The steam table is full of options though, and this is probably why most customers end up with big orders. The shop closes at 3pm but come well before that because as lunch hours go on the choices do get smaller. The baked goods are made fresh daily and the desserts go quickly. Staples like turkey tail and sapasui, a Samoan chop suey with thick vermicelli noodles, are available on most days (above).
As is quite popular you can throw in some corned beef with your sapasui or have the former more traditionally paired with taro in coconut milk. For even more coconut milk, they also sometimes have fa'alifu ulu, a Samoan breadfruit that is cooked in it.
Samoan sausages called sosisi can be eaten with a thick, rich gravy as can chicken thighs and legs as seen above. Both of these benefit from a side of rice, which can be added to any order and helps cut the intense richness.
You can also get drumsticks baked with spices without gravy, fish casseroles with more coconut (above, top right), and at this point you would have only started to scratch the surface.
The people that work here are very friendly and happy to answer questions and make recommendations. This makes gathering takeout meals easier for those that are less familiar with the foods of Polynesia.
๐ 1329 E. Carson Street, Carson, Harbor
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